I Am… commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2021

Image credit: Photography by Malachay Luckie

I Am…, performance and intervention , 2021, paper, card and printing ink. Commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2021.

‘I Am…’ was inspired by the movements of The Black Lives Matter protests, and research into how text has been used politically within creative activism. The Cival Rights Movement contains some of the most hideous and the most beautiful examples of human evil and human possibility. ‘I Am...’ was the remaking of the ‘I Am A Man’ placard that was a declaration of civil rights during the Memphis riots in 1968. This was by the striking African-American sanitation workers, and was subsequently taken-up at the Martin Luther King memorial march, after the activist’s assassination. It was used as a collective statement and as a declaration of independence against oppression, challenging centuries of dehumanisation. Later on, American conceptual artist Glenn Ligon’s work Untitled (I Am A Man) 1988, captured and explored the slogan to confront the themes of language, identity, race and sexuality.

The ‘I Am…’ intervention celebrated, embraced and highlighted diversity and culture in Norfolk, by questioning what is identity and what is mine? The public (including one for the Norfolk’s Black & POC Creative’s Network) had the chance to sign up to virtual and in-person workshops (aged 16+), where they were able to create human billboards by finishing off the I am… sentence, through the means of art and language.. They were able to reflect on their own identity, experiences and what mattered to them. The workshop looked at how the ‘I Am A Man’ slogan has evolved through time and where this slogan had orgienated. Participants were invited to join me in a walk around the Norwich City Centre during the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, enacting the singular file and billboards as shown in historical photos of the 1968 riots.

Research:

• Am I Not A Man And A Brother, medallion by English Potter Josiah Wedgewood 1787

• Am I Not A Woman And A Sister, medallion

• Ain’t I A Woman Speech by Sojourner Truth 1851.

• Untitled (I Am A Man) by Artist Glenn Ligon 1988.

• I Am Am A Man Series by Artsist Hank Willis Thomas 2009.

• I Am A Woman March in Washington 2017.

Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2021 Newspaper: Edition 3~ Review of ‘i am…’.

The I Am… intervention was a very insightful event led by Jade Anderson as part of the NNF Festival 2021. The project began with a workshop where we discovered the history behind the first ‘I Am A Man’ movement in 1968 – a strike by the Memphis sanitation workers - and subsequent artworks that were inspired by it leading forward, including artists such as Hank Willis Thomas and Glenn Ligon. We then progressed onto discussing what makes us who we are, and all the things that are important to our identity, which lead to us creating our own art pieces; signs with printed words that we felt represented us most. These were created in a similar style to the art we had previously seen; white with black print that we achieved with foam letters we cut out and black paint on a thick white card. I ended up choosing the phrase ‘I Am Human’ to be boldest and biggest words on my sign, as underneath all the labels and looks and descriptors, we all have skeletons and flesh – we are indeed human. Interwoven between this I added the words ‘Pagan, Pansexual, Eccentric, Actor’ as these are what I believe concisely define me as a person. Others chose words such as ‘I Am A Daughter’ or ‘I Am Creative’ which lead to a very eclectic mix for the next part of the intervention. 

The second stage of the project was extremely interesting as we paraded in a line around Norwich, in silence, much like the first movement we learnt about. It was extremely empowering to take note of the positive responses we got from doing so; I was expecting some sort of hostility as I’m aware not all of society is accepting of anything outside of the social norms, but actually it was received with praise and intrigue as to what we were doing and why. There was also an element of vulnerability in that moment, displaying so openly things about ourselves, but there was strength in numbers and as a group it felt much more secure and safe, and it felt good to be so publicly open about what makes me ‘me’. This intervention inspired me to look more into arts activism, as it was something I had never done before, but would definitely do again. I learnt a great deal about how important it is to use your voice, and have your voice heard, but also the impact it can have on those around you. 

Written by Young Norfolk Arts Collective member, workshop and intervention participant Tiah-Paige Burrell.